New to coal this year too, I thought I would have a ton of trouble but have only had a few problems, when something happens like letting the fire die down to far and trying to get it going again, you learn, best thing is not let it go to far. My advice is get the fire lit, keep the bed of coal deep and you can control it much easier and if you had your stove installed with a barometric damper, pull it out, block it off and put in a manual. I did and it is a differnet stove, you can control it much better, but maybe it is just my setup. Coal is the way to go, not nearly the hassles and mess of wood and no 600 doallar a month oil bill. nice and toasty and the wife does not have to throw a log on while you are gone. You will get the hang of it, just use common sense.

See now I had the opposite response with the baro. Before I installed the baro, my furnace would yo-yo hot and cool and had me running up and down the basement stairs several times a day to adjust the air feed. As it would heat up the draft would pull harder causing it to heat even more which created a run away train effect. If I closed the air feed too much it would cool and keep cooling as the draft in the chimney weakened..

After installation of the baro, I set my air feed and it keeps a steady heat output for the duration of the burn, 12 hours The baro keeps a steady consistant pull on the furnace which results in a steady consistant amount of air feeding the coal which then translates into a steady consistant heat output. I make a lot fewer trips up and down the basement stairs now and my furnace is MUCH more easier to manage. I would advise everyone to try a baro, if it doesn't work out then sure try the manual damper..

I have noticed, just with wood, the little amount I did use the stove the last couple of nights that the manual damper was rather less then stellar during the use. As the stove heated up the damper would open up and close at will. I'm not sure if its suppose to do this but I figured if I set it on three it should stay in the same position the whole time, It doesn't.

Where can I get a good barometric damper for my stove? Are they universal? Rough price?

AT, what you're referring to is NOT a manual damper, it is a Baro. Just saying It will, is supposed to, self adjust according to your chimney draft--I personally do not use a baro in my hand-fired--just for the reasons you have mentioned.

AlmostThere wrote:I have noticed, just with wood, the little amount I did use the stove the last couple of nights that the manual damper was rather less then stellar during the use. As the stove heated up the damper would open up and close at will. I'm not sure if its suppose to do this but I figured if I set it on three it should stay in the same position the whole time, It doesn't.

Where can I get a good barometric damper for my stove? Are they universal? Rough price?

Open and close at will?? You must mean the Barometric damper.. Thats exactly what its suppose to do.. As conditions change and draft pressure changes, it will automatically compensate. ALSO its a no-no to use a baro on wood since it will feed a chimney fire if one should happen.

Welcome to NEPA Crossroads Almost there.If your DS stove has the automatic thermostat controling the draft (air intake), You probably don't absolutely need a damper of any kind. freetown fred and I both use Hitzer stoves with the automatic draft control. He, as he said does not use a baro. I use a Field Controls brand Baro. because I believe it does even out the chinmey draft thereby evening out the amount of heated air being pulled up the chimney. I do believe the baro is more important if you live in a particulary windy location.

If you don't have the auto draft control you need a baro. to prevent too strong of a draft from pulling too much heated air up the chimney and wasting it.

I recommend that you read all you can get time to read on this great web site. This was my only source of help in getting started burning coal. People here are great with a ton of knowledge.